David Byrne has written an original song for Musk, Alex Gibney’s upcoming documentary about Elon Musk, and he didn’t have to dig too deep for lyrical inspiration. The track, titled “Let Me Sell You a Dream,” was co-written with the film’s composer Daniel Pemberton and uses Musk’s own public statements as lyrics. “All his own words. No editorialising. Straight from the man’s mouth to mine,” Byrne told Variety. The song will qualify for consideration for Best Original Song at the 2027 Academy Awards.
Byrne said he began by asking for “good quotes from the Martian” before digging up more online, while Gibney described the result as “foot-tapping sardonic poetry.” Should Byrne land a nomination, it would mark his first return to the Oscar race in nearly 40 years. He won Best Original Score alongside Ryuichi Sakamoto and Cong Su for The Last Emperor in 1988. Pemberton has also experienced some Oscar buzz and was previously nominated for “Hear My Voice” from The Trial of the Chicago 7 back in 2021.
Upcoming Documentary Release
Musk will premiere out of competition at the Venice International Film Festival on September 8th before heading to the Toronto International Film Festival. Bleecker Street will release the documentary in US theaters on October 16th.
Elon Musk has been aware of the project since it was first announced in 2023, writing on X that it would be “a hit-piece”; Alex Gibney responded, saying, “how would you know?”
Meanwhile, David Byrne recently announced a 70mm concert film directed by Brady Corbet, the filmmaker behind The Brutalist.
In conclusion, the collaboration between David Byrne and Daniel Pemberton on the song “Let Me Sell You a Dream” for the Musk documentary is a notable one, and its qualification for the 2027 Academy Awards is highly anticipated. With the documentary’s upcoming release and Byrne’s recent concert film announcement, fans of the Talking Heads frontman have much to look forward to in the coming months.
Pixel P. Snarkbyte, widely regarded as the “Shakespeare of Sh*tposts,” is a video game expert with a unique knack for turning pixels into punchlines.
Born in the small town of Respawn, Pennsylvania, Pixel grew up mashing buttons on an ancient NES controller, firmly believing that “blowing into the cartridge” was a sacred ritual passed down through generations.
Pixel P. Snarkbyte: proving that life, much like a buggy open-world game, is better with a little lag-induced chaos.
